Bing: Anonymous Letter Untrue, Major Distraction

Mayor Dave Bing is seen with members of his administration. (WWJ Photo/Marie Osborne, File)

MACKINAC ISLAND (WWJ) – Mayor Dave Bing, on Mackinac Island for this year’s Mackinac Policy Conference, is waking up to more reports of turmoil within his administration, calling into question whether Detroit is keeping up in its part of the reinvention of Michigan.

The Mayor said the latest controversy to hit their office is a major distraction. He’s talking about the four-page anonymous letter his office received in March, which questions the stability of his administration.

Bing said he is standing by his communications director Karen Dumas, who was the target of the letter that says because of her, the Mayor’s office has become a hostile work environment.

“I’m probably there more than anybody else and I sure don’t see any hostility whatsoever. Karen is somebody that I trust, number one, and somebody that I respect. She’s a good manager, she’s a task master and she’s doing what needs to be done,” Bing said.

“We talked about this administration coming in on change. She’s a change agent and because of that, I think she gets a lot of criticism, but I respect what she’s doing. She doesn’t accept the status quo and if we want to continuously depend on the status quo that got us where we are, we’ll never get out of it,” the Mayor continued.

Reporting live from Mackinac, WWJ’s Vickie Thomas said the revolving door in the Mayor’s office is getting the attention of some of the business leaders at the conference. She asked the Mayor if a scandal is brewing.

“You’re talking about scandal? What the hell is… what are we talking about? I mean, we’re talking about people who’ve been let go. That’s not a scandal as far as I’m concerned. That’s a decision that’s been made by key people in the administration for performance of lack-there-of, and I will continue to support that. If people can;t do what they’re supposed to do, then they ought not be here,” Bing said.